USER STORIES & DECOMPOSING REQUIREMENTS

WHAT IS A USER STORY?• A REGULAR STORY IS ABOUT SOME PERSONS, THEY ARE

IN A SITUATION, SOMETHING HAPPENS THAT IS INTERESTING, THEN THERE IS AN OUTCOME AND AN END

• SOMETIMES THERE IS A MORAL OR SOME RATIONALE FOR IT ALL

• USER STORIES ARE STORIES ABOUT A USER OF OUR PRODUCT. THERE IS A SITUATION, THE USERS DOES SOMETHING AND THE PRODUCT RESPONDS GIVING THE USER SOME RESULT (HOPEFULLY OF SOME VALUE)

WHAT IS A USER STORY?• A USER’S NEED

• A PLANNING ITEM

• A REQUIREMENT

• A (CHUNK OF) PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

• A COMMUNICATION TOOL

• A DISCUSSION OPENER

USER STORY FORMATS

FOCUS ON THE BUSINESS GOAL

•TITLE

• IN ORDER TO <BUSINESS GOAL>

•AS <A ROLE>

• I WANT <FUNCTIONALITY>

USER STORY FORMATS

FOCUS ON THE ROLE

•TITLE

•AS <A ROLE>

• IN ORDER TO <BUSINESS GOAL>

• I WANT <FUNCTIONALITY>

WHY USER STORIES?• USER STORIES PROMOTE TRANSPARENCY BEING

INTUITIVELY UNDERSTANDABLE FOR ALL INVOLVED (USUALLY ALSO FOR STAKEHOLDERS)

• HELP FOCUS ON THE USER AND VALUABLE BUSINESS OUTCOMES

• HELP START DISCUSSIONS – BUT ALSO HELP CAPTURE THEIR OUTCOMES

ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA FORMAT

•GIVEN <STARTING CONDITIONS>

•WHEN <EVENT>

•THEN <RESULT>

CAN ALSO BE USED TO DESCRIBE REQUIREMENTS, ESPECIALLY FOR SYSTEMS WITHOUT HUMAN USERS.

TYPES OF LARGE STORIES• COMPOUND STORIES - USUALLY MADE UP OF SEVERAL

SMALLER STORIES

• COMPLEX STORIES - USUALLY INHERENTLY LARGE STORIES, OFTEN BECAUSE THERE IS SOME UNCERTAINTY ABOUT WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE.

BREAKING DOWN USER STORIES• CRUD – CREATE, READ, UPDATE, DELETE

• ACCEPTANCE CRITERIA – SEPARATELY POSITIVE SCENARIO, NEGATIVE SCENARIO, EXCEPTIONS ETC.

• DECISION TREES – CONSIDER, THEN IMPLEMENT BRANCHES

• WORKFLOW STEPS – WORKFLOW SEQUENCE ONE BY ONE

• NONE, ONE, MANY – CONSIDER SEPARATELY SIZES

• EXTERNAL (INCREMENTAL) QUALITY – GRADUALLY IMPROVE UI, PERFORMANCE ETC.

• “SPIKES” – TIME-BOXED EXPLORATION

SOURCES• “GROWING AGILE” – BLOG POST ABOUT BREAKING DOWN

REQUIREMENTS

• HTTP://GROWINGAGILE.CO.ZA/2012/12/BREAKING-DOWN-USER-STORIES/

• “PATTERNS FOR SPLITTING USER STORIES” – RICHARD LAWRENCE

• HTTP://WWW.RICHARDLAWRENCE.INFO/2009/10/28/PATTERNS-FOR-SPLITTING-USER-STORIES/

• “USER STORIES APPLIED” – MIKE COHN, 2004 ISBN 978-0321205681

WWW.CODESPRINTERS.COM

THANK YOU